相傳美國人民對巨額債務和赤字很憂慮，奧巴馬總統信以為真。在參眾兩院不能達成共識的情況下，小奧在年初發布行政命令，成立了國家財政責任和改革委員會（National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform），負責對如何解決這個讓全國人民憂心忡忡夜不能寐的大問題提供建議。委員會還沒組成的時候，大家已經吵起來了。自由派嫌保守派占的人員比例大，保守派嫌自由派太多，不少人還從某些利益集團拿着工資呢。
雖然政治和經濟不是俺的本行，但平時也愛看點這方面的文章什麼的，就是缺乏系統的學習。也聽說過laffer curve，好象是個有爭議的東西啊。時代不同，真的很難比較。因為沒有時間機器，我們又無法比較克林頓要是不增稅，情況會怎麼樣；或者小布什不減稅，情況又如何；小奧不刺激經濟，今天我們是不是會很慘很慘。一切都是未知 ...我們知道的是，國家不能把稅率搞到100%，那樣它就一個子兒也拿不到了。事實上二戰時美國的最高所得稅率到過９２％。不是因為它能刺激經濟發展，而是國家需要錢，需要國民為國家作犧牲。而現在也面料兩場戰爭，小布什卻大張旗鼓地降低稅率，尤其是capital gain and dividend, 只收15%。我不是專家，但我自認還有些common sense，總覺得那樣是不行的。
你說“美國政府印錢是聯儲的事，而且印錢成本極低，主要是通過買TREASURY BILLS, NOTES and BONDS。”那以後還用還嗎？如果要還，債務還在那；如果不用還，那為什麼不直接把錢打到財政部的戶頭上，非得去買什麼“TREASURY BILLS, NOTES and BONDS”呢？別笑話俺哦。
增稅短期會增加稅收，長期會傷害經濟反而使稅收增長緩慢甚至停滯。小布什減稅，離任時的稅收反而比克林頓離任時的稅收高25%。歷史上20、60、80年代初的減稅, 美國政府稅收不但沒有減少，反倒有實質性的增長(IN REAL TERM)。
克林頓的BALANCED BUDGET當然與增稅不無關係，但也得益於他大刀闊斧的福利政策改革。96年，克林頓簽署了"Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act"，結束了長達六十年的聯邦政府對窮人的現金補助並促使依靠政府福利的婦女們參加工作。另一個重要的福利改革是以TANF(Temporaty Assistance for Needy Families)取代AFDC(Aid to Families with Dependent Children)，避免全國吃大鍋飯，而是依人口比例給各州撥款。FEDERAL只對困難家庭提供免稅作為補 助，而且不再是無限期的，一個人一生最多只能領取五年的補助。克林頓的這些政策得到了許多共和黨議員和民主黨議員們的支持，而有些極端的LIBERAL們則憤怒抗議，克林頓政府中三個民主黨官員甚至以辭職抗議。此外，BALANCED BUDGET還有另外一個trick，就是把payroll tax用於與social security無關的事項。
# 1993-02-05 - The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 # 1993-08-10 - Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993: Raised income tax rates; income tax, top rate: 39.6%; corporate tax: 35% # 1993-09-21 - creation of the AmeriCorps volunteer program # 1993-11-30 - Brady Bill # 1994-09-13 - Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act: Part of an omnibus crime bill, the federal death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses (see Federal assault weapons ban) # 1996-02-01 - Communications Decency Act # 1996-02-08 - Telecom Reform Act: Eliminated major ownership restrictions for radio and television groups. # 1996-03-14 - Authorized $100 million counter-terrorism agreement with Israel to track down and root out terrorists. # 1996-04-09 - Line Item Veto Act (Later declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Clinton v. City of New York). # 1996-04-24 - Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act # 1996-08-20 - Minimum wage Increase Act # 1996-09-21 - Defense of Marriage Act: Allowed states to refuse recognition of certain same-sex marriages, and defined marriage as between a male and female for purposes of federal law
1993年克林頓大幅增稅的法案 (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993)於1993年8月6日在參議院以51：50過關。Bob Kerrey在投下第50票前，在參院有長篇演說，聲明不支持法案，但是不願意“sink the Clinton Presidency",所以才投贊成票，爾後Gore作為副總統投下第51票。 在眾議院的情形也頗為戲劇化，票數為218：216，其中217為民主黨議員，一位為獨立議員。
You do not, right? Actually, even Chinese PingPong team has its highs and lows.
US economy is like ChinesePingPong team. It has its highs and lows. Every time it goes thru a low point, it emerges even stronger due to its incredible productivity, innovation and hard working people, especially immigrates like us.
Let us start to worry about Chinese economy. It is running on a bubble. The actual GDP growth rate is actually only 5-6%, if the true inflation is factored in.
Fareed Zakaria's recipe for restoring American Dream is far too rational and requires too much sacrifice. Instead, this country will increasingly rely upon intimidation and military force to preserve its consumptive way of life.
US national debt is less than 100% of GDP. It is a big problem. But easy to solve.
One example, China now has money supply, M2, of 60 Trillon Yuan, 180% of Chinese GDP, US has only M2 of 10 trillon dollar, 60% of US GDP. If US prints as much money as China does, US can repay its debt with extra to spare.
That is why US government is poor, while US is such a rich country. On the other side, Chinese government is so rich, while China is so poor.
The drawback of this approach, every time, government prints money, the wealth is transferred from people to teh government. And the inflation becomes sky high.
What is wrong with high inflation? With high inflation, no one in private section wants to work on real economy. If youcan run a business with 10% profit and the inflaction is 10%, you end up with nothing. Where does the money go? It goes to goevrnment. DO you still want to run such a business?
